Homing in on private property

What's so special about Mick Dodson? Perhaps the chance to run a lurid headline like “Man buys house” was just too much for The Oz to resist. Or did they get niggly because a highly-respected Indigenous leader had the temerity to make statements at odds with The Oz editorial line?

You see, Professor Dodson had some thoughtful things to say about the problematic notion of private property ownership on communal land. Aboriginal leaders do tend to make public comment about matters of crucial importance to Indigenous Australians. This isn't illegal either.

Oxfam reports that it costs $225,000 to build the most basic of houses in a remote community, where conditions are harsh and buildings deteriorate rapidly. Meanwhile, the average monthly household income in very remote areas of the Northern Territory is less than $3,500 - between four adults.

Existing houses are invariably over-crowded, with ten or more people sometimes sharing a house designed for half that number. Put it down to a lack of housing stock - and the curious tendency of most Indigenous Australians to share whatever they have with a wide circle of family and friends.

All in all, when in comes to the question of “own-your-owns” on communal land, it's not hard to see why caution should be the order of the day.

Perhaps Dodson assumed that most Australians could distinguish between the circumstances of a skilled professional living in a major city, and a bushman with a far less marketable set of skills living a semi-traditional existence in a remote community.

I reckon he was right.